Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagChinese Room

parapluie-rouge-stockpack-unsplash
Parapluie rouge

Get a Sneak Peek of the New Non-Computable You Audiobook

Will machines someday replace attorneys, physicians, computer programmers, and world leaders? What about composers, painters, and novelists? Will tomorrow’s supercomputers duplicate and exceed humans? Are we just wetware, natural computers doomed to obsolescence by tomorrow’s ultra-powerful artificial intelligence? Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will by Mind Matters podcast host Robert J. Marks is now available in Read More ›

person-clicking-on-a-laptop-while-holding-a-cloth-stockpack-adobe-stock
Person clicking on a laptop while holding a cloth

Why Computers Will Never Understand What They are Doing

Can computers be sentient? Are there things which humans can do that computers can’t? Is artificial intelligence really creative? Robert J. Marks talks about his new book Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will with talk show host Bill Meyer. Additional Resources Hear Bill’s podcasts at www.BillMeyerShow.com (broadcast from KMED / KCMD, Medford, OR). Purchase Robert J. Marks’ Read More ›

oh-no-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Oh no!

Six Limitations of Artificial Intelligence As We Know It

You’d better hope it doesn’t run your life, as Robert J. Marks explains to Larry Linenschmidt

The list is a selection from “Bingecast: Robert J. Marks on the Limitations of Artificial Intelligence,” a discussion between Larry L. Linenschmidt of the Hill Country Institute and Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks. The focus on why we mistakenly attribute understanding and creativity to computers. The interview was originally published by the Hill Country Institute and is reproduced with thanks.  https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-097-Robert-Marks.mp3 Here is a partial transcript, listing six limits of AI as we know it: (The Show Notes, Additional Resources, and a link to the full transcript are below.) 1. Computers can do a great deal but, by their nature, they are limited to algorithms. Larry L. Linenschmidt: When I read the term “classical computer,” how does a computer function? Let’s build on Read More ›

close-up-view-of-robot-playing-chess-selective-focus-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
close-up view of robot playing chess, selective focus

Bingecast: Robert J. Marks on the Limitations of Artificial Intelligence

Robert J. Marks talks with Larry L. Linenschmidt of the Hill Country Institute about nature and limitations of artificial intelligence from a computer science perspective including the misattribution of creativity and understanding to computers. Other Larry L. Linenschmidt podcasts from the Hill Country Institute are available at HillCountryInstitute.org. We appreciate the permission of the Hill Country Institute to rebroadcast this Read More ›

3d rendered illustration of karate dojo background. Karate school is out of focus to be used as a photographic backdrop.

What Did the Computer Learn in the Chinese Room? Nothing.

Computers don’t “understand” things and they can’t handle ambiguity, says Robert J. Marks

Larry L. Linenschmidt interviews Robert J. Marks on the difference between performing a task and understanding the task, as explained in philosopher John Searle’s famous “Chinese Room” thought experiment.

Read More ›
tracey-hocking-GpBtG5aFHB0-unsplash

Bingecast: Is Cheese Consumption Causing Deaths from Tangled Sheets?

Those dealing with data must always remember “If you torture data long enough, it will confess to anything.” The answers that computers give must themselves be questioned. Robert J. Marks and Gary Smith address artificial intelligence, spurious correlations, and data research on Mind Matters. Show Notes 01:34 | Introduction to Gary Smith, the Fletcher Jones Professor of Economics at Pomona Read More ›

jelleke-vanooteghem-8Arw-cEpt-Q-unsplash

The Unexpected and the Myth of Creative Computers – Part II

Robert J. Marks talks with Larry L. Linenschmidt of the Hill Country Institute about the misattribution of creativity and understanding to computers. This is Part 2 of 2 parts. Other Larry L. Linenschmidt podcasts from the Hill Country Institute are available at HillCountryInstitute.org. We appreciate the permission of the Hill Country Institute to rebroadcast this podcast on Mind Matters. Show Read More ›

Ice cream chocolate and vanilla sundae topping with red cherry.

A Short Argument Against the Materialist Account of the Mind

You can simply picture yourself eating a chocolate ice cream sundae.
We have thoughts and ideas—what philosophers call “intentional” states—that are about things other than themselves. We don’t really know how this works. But whenever we speak to another person, we assume it must be true. And in our own case, we know it’s true. Even to deny it is to affirm it. Read More ›